Harness.



A; A. GHANEY.

HARNESS. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28, 1908 Patented May 11, 1909.

atkmnaqf ALBERT A. OHANEY, or HOPEDALE, orrro.

HARNESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

?atented May 11, 1909.

Application filed February 28, 1908. Serial No. 418,272.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT A. OHANEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hopedale, in the county of Harrison, State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harness; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention has relation to certain new and useful improvements in harness.

The object of my invention is to provide a so-called single harness so contrived that the animal may be speedily secured between the shafts, the only requirement being when the improved device is employed that the traces 0r tugs be hitched to the swingletrees, the usual thill straps or billets being entirely eliminated.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 represents a part of the harness provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 discloses an enlarged detached detail of the thill sleeve. Fig. 3 shows a transverse section, and Fig. 4 a top view of my improvement.

As ordinarily constructed, a single harness is secured to the vehicle by means of the thill loops, the tugs, and the billets which are wound about the thills or shafts. In my present invention I simplify and expedite the hitching operation in that I eliminate the billets and consequently the operation required in securing the same, and substitute a thill sleeve which by means of a quarter strap, is secured directly to the breeching, the thill being provided with a stop collar to offer a holding means for the breeching when the horse is hacked or the vehicle is running down grade.

In carrying out the object of my invention I employ what I term a thill sleeve 1. This thill sleeve is adapted to readily work over the end of the thill or shaft and be sto ped against a collar 2 secured to the thi 3 as shown in Fig. 2. This thill sleeve is provided with the buckle 4 near one end and the strap 5 near the opposite end, said buckle and strap being secured in alinement and when united form a loop. In connection with this thill sleeve I use the ordinary thill loop 6 pendent from the shaft bearer strap 7 as is usual in harness construction. Secured near the rear end to this sleeve 1 are the two securing straps 9, 9 which at their ends are united to the ring 10 as shown in Fig. 1. To the breeching ring 13 is secured an ordinary quarter strap 14 which also engages the ring 10 so that the distance between the thill sleeve and the breechin ring 13 may be nicely adjusted. The thil loop 6 is secured to the thill sleeve by means of the strap 5,

In securing or hitching a horse provided with my improved harness the operator in backing the animal between the shafts simply slips the thill sleeve 1 over the shaft tips then secures the tugs and the belly band as 1s usual. In this operation however, the blllet strap has been entirely eliminated consequently the construction is greatly simplified and superfluous parts dispensed with.

The straps 99 are connected to the sleeve 1 at opposite sides, preferably at top and bottom and extend rearwardly and each strap is provided with a loop, as shown, and the loops coupled by a single ring 10 to which the breeching is coupled as above described. By this simple means the pull of the breeching is uniform upon the sleeve both above and below the center, consequently there can be no lateral or unequal strains but the pull will be directly upon the stop collar 2. By this simple means no unequal wear occurs as the strains are uniform from both sides of the sleeve. This is an important feature of the invention and adds materially to its value and efliciency and greatly aids in the operation and relieves the parts from unequal strains.

In connection with harness where the billet straps are used, the breeching is practically given a new adjustment at each hitching and no new driver using an old harness would know without experiment what adjustment would be necessary to give the breeching by means of the billet straps. By means of my invention however, after the harness has once been adjusted to the animal no further handling of the breeching or adjusting of the same is necessary. My invention in no way detracts from the sightly appearance of the harness, while by means of the same the operation of hitching and unhitching is facilitated, and

Having thus described my said invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by U. S. Letters Patent is In combination with a pair of thills of a stop collar upon each thill, a sleeve slidable upon each thill and bearing respectively against the collars, a strip encompassing each I are provided for connecting said straps to the sleeve and having means for connecting the breeching' portions of a harness. 16 same to the saddle portion of a harness, l In testimony whereof, I allix my signature, strips connected to each of said sleeves at opin presence of tWo Witnesses.

positesides thereof, and extendin rearward y ALBERT A. CHANEY.

and terminating respectively in oops, and a Witnesses:

ring connected in the loops of each pair of C. A. TOPE,

oppositely disposed straps, whereby means J. O. OYLEUGE. 

